The Return of Sephiroth
by TheLogster
Summary: This is my continuation of the FFVII story, six years after the end of the game. I finally updated it, that means chapter 3
1. Awakening

"YOU CAN NEVER DESTROY ME, WEAKLING", Sephiroth howled as the blade of the ultima weapon glided  
  
off of his chest, blood spraying into the abyss-like darkness. Cloud slid back into his fighting position staring at Sephiroth,  
  
looking at him with the utmost hatred, "I DESTROYED YOU ONCE AND ILL DO IT AGAIN" Cloud spat back, his rage flowed  
  
through him like blood. Sephiroth grinned, his grip around the handle of the masamune tightened as he lunged forward. Cloud  
  
stepped back raising his sword as well, but it was too late. Sephiroth swung the masamune at Cloud's exposed midsection.  
  
Then all of a sudden Cloud jolted awake, covered in a cold sweat. He stared out into the darkness in front of him.  
  
It was so real, but it was only a dream...Cloud thought, running a hand through his sweat soaked hair. He slightly jumped  
  
as he felt the touch of a hand to his naked shoulder, he loked to the right quickly. Tifa looked at him with the same look that  
  
she had given him for the past six years, "Love, are you alright?", she asked. "I'm fine" Cloud replied to his wife, "It was only a  
  
bad dream, go back to sleep, I'm gonna go downstairs, I cant seem to fall asleep." "Ok dear" Tifa replied, kissing him upon the  
  
cheek as she layed back down, quickly returning to sleep.  
  
Cloud slid his pants on, and then began on his way down stairs. He then walked into the kitchen, poured himself a cup of  
  
coffee and then sat at the kitchen table. "DADDY WAKE UP" a voice called to him. Cloud slowly raised his head, looking about  
  
the kitchen as he looked about with a groggy look upon his face. "Daddy.." his 6 year old son Xaion said to him, "Daddy, you said  
  
that you were gonna help me train today." Cloud smiled, running his hand through his son's semi-spikey brown hair. "Yeah, I did say  
  
that didn't I?" Cloud said slowly standing up, "Ok, well you get ready, and I'll meet you there, ok Xaion?" His son smiled widely, relpying  
  
"Ok daddy" as he ran upstairs to get his stuff.  
  
Cloud yawned loudly, slowly strecthing, the bones in his back popping as he leans from side to side. "Boy, you yawn loud  
  
enough to wake the dead" a familiar voice said to him. Cloud smirked, already knowing who it is. He slowly turned to face the voice,  
  
he was right, "Barret, long time no see" Cloud said to the husky black man with a chain gun for an arm, his stepdaughter, Marlene, stood  
  
next to him. "Hiya Cloud" she said, smiling and blushing slightly at the sight of the half dressed mercenary. Xaion came barreling down  
  
the stairs, fully armored, holding his wooden training sword. "Don't forget that you promised this time daddy." He said as he rocketed  
  
past Cloud towards the door. "Hiya Uncle B, Hiya Marlene." he said as he rocketed past them and out of the door.  
  
"Damn man, that kid's fulla energy" Barret said sitting at the kitchen table, "Kinda like you were at times, back in the day." Cloud  
  
chuckled, heading towards the stairs. "Lemme go get dressed" Cloud said as he started up the stairs "I'll wake up Tifa while I'm up there."  
  
As he finished putting his clothes on he walked over to the bed, kneeling beside it. "Love..someone's here to see us" he whispered into his  
  
sleeping wife's ear. "Hmmn..?" Tifa mumbled waking to the sound of Cloud's voice. "Who's here, dear?" she asked as she got up. "Barret  
  
and Marlene" Cloud replied, "Remember, they stop by every month." "Oh thats right they do dont they" Tifa said, giggling to her self as she  
  
finished getting dressed.  
  
Hours later, the three one time members of a group of fighters had finished exchanging stories, Cloud looked to a near by clock.  
  
"Holy shit" he said getting up and walking to a closet near the stairs, "Xaion is gonna be pissed that I almost forgot the promise I made to him."Cloud  
  
pulled out a wooden sword that looked identical to the sword of his dead friend Zack. "Well, I'm sorry that I couldn't stay to finish talking,  
  
but I promised Xaion that I'd help him train today" Cloud said, a goofy smile upon his face, "And I really don't want to break this promise" he paused  
  
for a second, chuckling to himself, "again." Soon after that he was in the forest clearing that his son and he had always used to train in.  
  
Something here doesn't feel quite right.....Cloud thought to himself,.....I've felt this before. Cloud began to look around in desperation for  
  
any sign of his son, moment later he found a broken wooden training sword laying upon the ground. As Cloud stop beside it he dropped to his knees,  
  
hearing the same evil laugh that plagued his dreams for the past month. Cloud closed his eyes tightly, as two thin streams of tears began to flow down his  
  
face, he clenched his hands into fists, rage building inside him. "NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cloud screamed, his fists in the air,  
  
he then fell to the ground, beating upon it letting out his rage, his scream echoing away in the distance. 


	2. Plans

As Cloud returned home, anger surged through his veins, How could this have happened.. he asked himself.  
  
An hour or so later, he reached his home. Cloud thought to himself, How am I going to tell Tifa about this....it's gonna  
  
crush her. He slowly opened the front door, the familiar smell of Tifa's cooking filled his nostrils, he closed his eyes and  
  
shook his head, fighting back tears as he walked through the front door. "Hello, dear" Tifa said, aproaching him, "How'd it go?"  
  
Cloud closed his eyes tightly, a tear or two ran down his face. "Cloud....what's wrong?" she asked, "Where's Xaion?" Cloud took  
  
a deep breath, not knowing how he would word it, he showed Tifa the handle of thier son's broken wooden training sword. Suddenly  
  
it hit her, breathless, she fell to the ground, sobbing, tears streaming down her face. Cloud kneeled beside her, taking her into an  
  
embrace, crying as well.  
  
"I...know who did it..." Cloud said, sobbing with each word, "It was him....he did it." Tifa looked at Cloud with a dumbfounded  
  
expression "Wh...who did it Cloud?" Tifa asked, wiping away tears."It was...S...S." Cloud hated the name that he was about to say,  
  
it was the apitomy of all of his hatred, "Sephiroth..." Tifa's eyes widened, she knew that when Cloud said that name, he was serious.  
  
"It..it couldn't have been.." Tifa paused for a moment "Him.." Cloud let out an exsasperated sigh, "I know it was him," he stood slowly,  
  
clenching his hands into fists, a sneer came over his face, "Tifa, you know those bad dreams that I've been having for the past month?"  
  
he asked her. "Yeah, what about them?" she replied, "What connection do they have with this?" Cloud remained silent, staring off into space,  
  
the dreams flashed through his mind. He turned walking out of the front door. "CLOUD!!!!" Tifa called out to him, running to the door. As she  
  
watched him walk off into the darkness, she fell to her knees, crying uncontrollably  
  
"I can't believe Cloud would do somthing like this," Barret said, looking at the floor of Cloud and Tifa's house, "Just up and leave  
  
it aint like him.." "Mabye, he has a plan," Vincent said, "And if I know Cloud like we all do, thats exactly what he has.." Vincent turned to the  
  
front window, he closed his eyes and leaned against the nearby wall. "Well...," an old gruffly voice said. They all turned to the direction that  
  
voice came from. "Well...hello Cid.." Tifa said standing up walking towards him. "Hey," Cid replied, "you know, this isnt the first time that  
  
this has happened" Barret chuckled, "That's right isn't it.." he said, "I still remember those few days that we lost Cloud due to the  
  
lifestream incident...."  
  
"Yeah.." Tifa said with a sigh, "Maybe he'll come back, but then again..." her eyes drifted to the front window, as memories of thier first  
  
campaign against Sephiroth, "But I can't lose Cloud again, I wouldn't be able to go though life without him, or our son..." Tifa sat down in a nearby  
  
chair, letting memories or her and Cloud run through her mind again.  
  
Damn you Sephiroth......Cloud thought, looking out over Nibel, it's all your fault..I thought that you were dead, but I guess I was  
  
wrong about it. Suddenely, a familiar voice shot out at Cloud from a small thicket of bushes and trees. "Finally we found you..." Cloud's head  
  
snaped towards the direction of the voice. The bushes shook about slightly as a man with long and wild red hair stepped out, followed shortly  
  
after by a bald man with sunglasses, and a young blonde woman. "Reno.."Cloud muttered, "I thought that we got rid of you a while ago." Reno chortled  
  
swiping at a few strands of is red hair, "Really," Reno mused, "You think that you can get rid of us that easily, hmm?" "Yeah.." the young woman with short  
  
blonde hair cut in "You can't get rid of the Turks that easily" "Elena," the bald man blurted out, "Please.." Elena scoffed as she turned her head to the side,  
  
looking slightly offended, muttering, "Ok, fine..whatever your such a killjoy Rude..."  
  
Cloud scanned over Reno, Elena, and Rude, narrowing his eyes slightly, he clenched his hands into tight fists. "What do you want anyway?" Cloud  
  
inquired. Reno smirked slightly, spinning his rod in his right hand, "Nothing really...just.." "Just what?" Cloud asked hastily "J.." Reno started, but was stopped  
  
abruptly "Just to beat the crap outta you, like you've always done to us!" Elena cut in quickly. "Really now? chuckled Cloud slowly moving a hand to the hilt of  
  
his sword, "Well, why dont we see how far you can get, I mean, if I've 'always' beat you guys, lets see how good you can do against just me.." The three Turks  
  
laughed uncontrollably "O..o..ok..ok" Reno said, "Let's see how we do against just you" Reno slowly raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. Shortly after that  
  
a large platoon of rugged looking Shinra soliders. Cloud's expression dropped "So, you really wanna go through with it?" He slowly then pulled the Ultima Weapon  
  
from his back, "Well then, lets get this over with then." There was a quick murmur through the group of soliders. Suddenly, the whole platoon turned on their heels,  
  
taking off in the direction of which they came. "Get him!"Reno snapped his fingers. After a few seconds of nothing happening Reno snapped his fingers again, "GET  
  
HIM!!" he yelled. Nothing happened once again. Elena, enraged by the solider's not listening to commands given to them turned around quickly, "DIDN'T YOU HEA..r  
  
him..."she bilnked a couple of times, and then turned back around, gaze lowered to the ground. "Elena....the soliders aren't there anymore are they?" Reno asked,  
  
quietly. "No...they aren't.." Elena replied quickly with a low tone. Rude laughed suddenly, Reno and Elena turned to look at him. "Sorry about that, Cloud." Rude said,  
  
"Elena just got Reno all worked up into defeating you finally." He turned and began to walk away "See ya around, maybe they might find some one who will fight you.."  
  
Reno then began to walk away, "Oh well...that's the last time I listen to Elena..." Elena turn and watched them both walk off, an angry scowl replaced her hopeless  
  
expression, "HEY GET BACK HERE...WE'RE GONNA BEAT HIM THIS TIME....ugh.....YOU GUYS...." Cloud chuckled as she ran off calling to them both.  
  
"Well, they haven't changed one bit....." Cloud muttered, "I guess I'm relieved to see that..." He slowly walked into a small group of shrubbery whistling  
  
incoherently to himself. "So...that's the plan huh?" Cid said, "We go track down him and then try to look for Xaion?" "Yeah...that's it" Tifa muttered, still feeling a  
  
little bit hopeless from what happened. In one day she lost her son and her husband. Could anything else go wrong today? Tifa thought. She felt as if the entire  
  
world was coming down in around her ears, and no one was here to save her, and she couldn't save herself. "Well..." Barret said, finally breaking a long slience, "I  
  
guess we all should get a good night's sleep so we can head off in the morning." Almost everyone murmured a response, most of their spirits low from the todays  
  
events. "I'll meet you all at the town's entrance tomorrow around 10 'o clock." Tifa said to the rest of the group as she got up to stretch "The innkeeped said he'd all  
  
let you stay for free, so untill the morning..good night." They all gave their words of parting and then took leave of Cloud's and Tifa's house. Tifa walk upstairs slowly  
  
depression still hanging over her like a dark cloud. "Cloud...I hope that you'll be alright...you'd better" she said as she layed her head upon her pillow. Minutes later she  
  
rolled over, and fell into a deep and empty sleep. 


	3. Vengence

Cloud slowly walked away from the ledge that overlooked Nebelhiem. He took one more quick glance over his shoulder. He looked back at the town, knowing that all his friends were there and they were sparing no means to come after him and his son. "Well, from here on, there's no turning back. I will find my son." Cloud muttered as he steped through the brush.   
  
**************************  
  
Tifa awoke suddenly, a cold sweat covered her brow. She looked about her empty bedroom, hoping that Cloud would be there to comfort her. She wished that everything that happened the night before was just a bad dream, that when she walked downstairs, Cloud would be there just getting ready to come up and wake her from a peaceful sleep. But she knew, deep inside, that everything, every little event that took place last night was truely and completely real. She could not turn back to what was, this was the reality, and she couldn't deal with it, just the very thought of it crushed her inside.  
  
The small group of Vincent, Barret, Cid and RedXIII gathered around the entrance of Nebelhiem and exactly 10 o' clock that morning. "Jeezus," Barret exclaimed, "I thought she said that she'd be here at ten, but here we are, its ten, and she's not." "Give her some time Barret," Vincent muttered stepping out of the shadows of a nearby buliding, "You know what happened to her last night is devestating, show some comfort. Tifa's been through a lot in one night and we should show her some kindness." "Vinny's right," Cid said gruffly, "Least we could do is just be nice to her a bit, t'wouldn't hurt much." He took the finished cigarette from his mouth and flicked it away, letting it burn out on the dirt trail a few feet from them.  
  
Tifa slowly walked up to the four. "Sorry I'm late you guys," she said while looking at the ground sadly, "I wasn't paying attention to the time, you must be ready, so lets get going." The four watched her as she walked past them, heading down the path that led to Nebelhiem. They then turned to each other, shrugged and quickly followed behind.   
  
*************************  
  
"YOU DIDN'T KILL HIM?" A shadowy figure shouted at the three turks and the platoon of soliders that were with them. "Well...not exactly....killed him...sir.."Reno replied cowardly, "The soliders just turned heel and took off, so ...we couldn't exactly fight him.." A small hand came down on the hand of a leather furnished office chair. "Your exact orders were to dispose of the Ex-SOLIDER Cloud Strife, and you failed." He shouted at the turk with red hair. "M-mr.Shinra..sir..." Reno pleaded to Rico Shinra, the 16 year old son of the late President Shinra, and brother to the late Rufus Shinra. "That murderer killed both my father and my brother...and I will not allow him to get away with it. I will have my revenge!" Rico exclaimed smashing a gloved fist against an arm of the chair. "So does that mean you'll let us try again?" Elena asked quickly.  
  
"No...you've failed me once already," Rico said as he slowly turned around facing a nearby window, "I wont allow it again..." He snapped his fingers and a small group of his personal soliders quickly entered the room. The three turks were quickly restrained by the soliders and forced to their knees. "You seeI believe in the old saying that if you want something done right, do it yourself.." Rico mused as he spun the chair back around, "So therefore, I'll be the one who tracks the Ex-SOLIDER down and kills him." Rico spun the chair back around, and grinned, "Take them away, and lock them up, we seem to have traitors against our cause..." He ordered.  
  
"Wh-WHAT?!" Reno exclaimed in ashtonishment, "Tratiors...us? Sir by no means are we traitors to your cause..." Rico stood, donning a black leather trenchcoat. He ran a hand through his dark blue hair as he turned to face them. "You may not know it, but not fighting even after the soliders retreated is, in my eyes, the act of a traitor. And as a traitor, you will be executed according to the punishment of a traitor."  
  
"Why you..little....I'LL KILL YOU!!" Rude screamed as he broke free from the grasp of Rico's personal soliders. He ran foreward and thrust a gloved fist out at Rico. Rico grinned as he quickly sidestepped Rude's fist, bringing a knee up to Rude's stomach. Rude steped back, gripping his stomach as he gasped despreately for breath as Rico brought the butt end of his sword down on the base of Rude's neck, droping the bald turk to the ground like a pile of bricks. "And if your actions during your mission weren't an act of a traitor, that just was." Rico snapped his fingers once more and the three were carried off by Rico's red clad soliders.  
  
As the door closed behind the last solider, Rico faced the window and pulled his sword from its sheath. He held the blade out in front of him, whatever light that was in the room shone of the polished blade. "My blade will taste your blood, Cloud Strife" Rico spoke the name with fury and hatred, "Mark my words, my blade will taste your blood..." 


End file.
